It’s not so hard, it it?

If one wants to laugh (or cry) than one can read Dinesh D’Souza‘s op-ed in the LA Times (home of another logic and fact-challenged op-ed writer, Jonah Goldberg). Compare the op-ed’s falsified version of history (Clinton wasn’t tough enough on terrorists) to his book’s making common cause with the terrorists.

In sunnier matters, today George Will writes one of his bio-pieces: usually a flattering series of quotes about a person he likes. They’re often harmless, practically always about some conservative, and they usually contain some Rush Limbaugh style dig at “liberalism” (a view Will thinks synonymous with communism). Not today. As a matter of fact, today’s subject is Barney Frank, Massachusetts uberliberal. What stands out today is the fact that Will takes seriously the idea that Frank has an argument for his view. He doesn’t by any means endorse Frank’s view, but he allows for the possibility that Frank has reasons for the criticisms he levels at income distribution:

>Frank may be the most liberal member of Congress. His thinking is what today’s liberalism looks like when organized by a first-class mind. He thinks he discerns cultural contradictions of conservatism: Some conservative policies — free trade and tax and other policies that (he thinks) widen income inequalities — undermine support for other conservative policies. When capitalism’s “creative destruction,” intensified by globalization, churns the labor market and deepens the insecurities of millions of families, conservatives should not be surprised by the collapse of public support for free trade and an immigration policy adequate to the economy’s needs.

Will doesn’t assess the merits of this position other than to grant that it’s an argument worth considering on its merits. If this shows anything, it shows that it’s not that hard to exercise a little charity. Not hard at all.